African leaders seek 15-year extension for AGOA

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African leaders yesterday urged the United States  to renew the trade benefits programme giving duty-free access to billions of dollars of African exports for 15 years, saying it would help cement trade relations and boost development in the region.

South African President Jacob Zuma, one of nearly 50 African leaders in Washington to attend a three-day summit, said the renewal of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) when it expires next year, is one of the key issues for this week’s talks.

“Almost 95 per cent of South African exports receive preferential treatment under AGOA,” Zuma said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event, joining calls by the African Union for a 15-year extension.

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Fashola, APC Governors, Leaders converge to honour Bisi Akande at 75

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Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Thursday joined several notable Nigerians like Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Tanko Al-Makura of Nassarawa, Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and several others in celebrating the National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande as he turned 75.

ASUU leaders adamant on strike.

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Following threats from the Federal Government, leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday relocated from Abuja to their various campuses in readiness for expected crackdown.

It was gathered that President Goodluck Jonathan might no longer be directly involved in negotiation with the lecturers because he is angry with ASUU leaders for three reasons, namely their contempt for the office of the President, their decision to issue new conditions and their alleged backing by some external forces.

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US ended applications monitoring a number of the leaders including Merkel - Full report

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The US National Security Agency stopped tapping the phones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders once the White House learnt about its activities. The media has shared more details on the federal government’s attitude towards massive surveillance.

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Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Leaders Receive Death Threats

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 Photo: ASUU President

Leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) complain of receiving death threats by phone messages and begin to go underground for fear of these lives.

This is made known in a record titled

“ASUU strike: Union leaders go underground” by ASUU, University of Ibadan (UI) chapter, signed by Dr Olusegun Ajiboye. In line with the claims, union leaders are now being tailed by unknown elements suspected to be security agents involved by the Federal Government.

The extract from the statement reads as follows:

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President GEJ seeks immunity for African leaders from ICC prosecution for war crimes, genocide

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Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has called for an amendment of the laws governing the International Criminal Court, ICC, to allow serving African leaders to enjoy immunity from prosecution for war crimes, genocide, and war against humanity. Two serving African presidents, Sudan and Kenya, have been accused of war crimes by the ICC. Mr. Jonathan stated this on Saturday in an address at the Extraordinary Session of African Union Heads of State and Government, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

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"Chemical weapons" crisis in #Syria - LIVE updates - Putin Praises British Leaders (Photos + Video)

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International pressure has been building for a military strike on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb. The West blames President Assad, as UN inspectors probe the site of the attack.

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2015: Jonathan, PDP leaders in new plot to Win South-West

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Culled From Punch Nigeria

President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party have begun a fresh plot to win the South-West states in the 2015 elections.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that developing an acceptable modality to check the All Progressives Congress and eventually win the zone topped the agenda of a meeting between the President and the South-West PDP leaders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

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Mixed reactions greet govs’ visits to ex-leaders

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Mixed reactions have continued to trail the visits of some Northern states’ governors to three former Nigerian leaders – Generals Olusegun Obasanjo,   Abdusalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.

Four of the governors – Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Sule Lamido(Jigawa); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); and Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano) – had  last Saturday visited Obasanjo in Abeokuta where they discussed issues that have to do with the polity, especially the 2015 general elections.

On Monday, Wamakko, Lamido, Kwakwanso and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu  headed for Minna, where they reportedly discussed similar issues, including the political crisis in Rivers State with Abubakar and Babangida.

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Special Force captures 11 Boko Haram leaders in Borno

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Following the raid of Mandara Mountains and Sambisa forest in Borno State, the Special Force has captured 11 Boko Haram leaders, including one of those suspected to be behind the posting of online videos.

But the Special Force also recorded unspecified number of casualty in gun duels with Boko Haram insurgents who are regrouping in Borno State.
According to a member of the nine-man team which visited Borno State on an appraisal tour, the Special Force is making progress in warding off aggression from Boko Haram members who had shifted base to Manadara mountains, including Gwoza and 1 Kirawa Hills which are under heavy surveillance.

US and UK intelligence regarded G20 leaders as potential terrorists

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While the U.S. government keeps on insisting that the surveillance program was a limited one and designed to protect the United States and other countries from terrorist and other threats, new leaks reveal that the U.S. and U.K. intelligence services eavesdropped on world leaders at conferences in London in 2009. This included setting up fake internet cafés in order to intercept foreign delegates' emails as well as tapping the phones. The eavesdropping program was not limited to potential adversaries, but included the U.S. and U.K.'s allies as well.

A U.S. government paper released on Sunday states that among millions of phone and email records collected by the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2012, only fewer than 300 phone numbers were really searched in order to obtain detailed information.

WEIRD NEWS: President Of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan Got Completely Drunk….Could Not Address African Leaders

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Several diplomats at the 50th anniversary summit of the OAU in Addis Ababa have confirmed to SaharaReporters that the Nigerian president was too irate and inebriated to go and address the meeting yesterday.  Saharareporters had revealed yesterday the Mr. Jonathan failed to show up when it was his turn to address a summit of African heads of states who met in Addis Ababa starting midweek.
Several sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan was so infuriated over the outcome of an election by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum that he drank himself to a stupor.

“Mr. President made several calls to Governor Godswill Akpabio rebuking him for allowing the elections to take place even when it was clear that the president’s candidate Governor Jonah Jang was likely to lose”, says one of our sources.

The account of what led Jonathan’s failure to deliver his speech contradicted an explanation offered by President Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati.

Question Of The Day: Nigerian leaders, Past and present; who's your best and worst?

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From top left: Yakubu Gowon, Ernest Shonekan, Murtala Mohammed, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sani Abacha and Muhammadu Buhari.

Rate them from 1 to 11. And if your favorite and worst isn't listed here, just name them...

Four church leaders killed in Borno State

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Four church leaders of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) located in Gwoza village in Borno state were killed on Monday April 8th by gunmen believed to be members of Islamic sect, Boko Haram.  The four men identified as Iliya Tada, Ayuba Yusuf, Idris Dogo and a fourth victim were gunned down while resting near the church premises after a service. Their attackers rode into the church in a bike and opened fire. The dead men were buried today.

Church Leaders angry after Escort Posts Naké-d Photos of herself on altar

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A vicar has said the “body is a beautiful thing but there is a time and place for it” after an escort posted photos of herself naké-d in church, but called the stunt "shameless" and "sacrilegious".

The escort, known only as Gemma, posted the photos of her inside St Bartholomew's Church in the village of Goodnestone, Kent, on a website. One image shows the 22-year-old kneeling down naké-d on the church altar as she rests her hands on a crucifix - with the stained glass window of the church in the background.

Photos: 8 Perfectly Preserved Dead World Leaders You Can Visit

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Traditions aren’t traditions if they’re not a little weird, right?

“We have decided to prepare the body of our “Comandante President,” to embalm it so that it remains open for all time for the people,” Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro declared on Thursday, in announcing plans to preserve Hugo Chávez’s body and showcase it in a glass tomb at a military museum near the presidential palace.

“Just like Ho Chi Minh. Just like Lenin. Just like Mao Zedong.”

In fact, it turns out Maduro was missing a few names. The practice of embalming national (mainly communist) leaders and boxing their bodies in glass for posterity may have gone out of vogue with the end of the Cold War, but Chávez still has distinguished company.

Here are the most notable members of the exclusive club:

Vladimir Lenin, Russia. Died: Jan. 21, 1924

Nigerian Leaders Stole N3tn Between 2000 And 2010 — Report

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A Washington-based research and advocacy organisation – Global Financial Integrity in its newly published report, has said out of the 20 biggest exporters of illicit financial flows for decades, Nigeria sits in the 7th position with $19.66bn (N3.047tn).

Not unsurprising to say the least, the report said Nigeria, termed the 7th biggest money launderingcountry in the world, exported N3tn by leaders who had access to the nation’s money between 2000 and 2010.

Co-authored by GFI’s Lead Economist, Dev Kar, and GFI’s Economist, Sarah Freitas, the report is the first by the organisation in incorporating a new, more conservative estimate of illicit financial flows.

Naira Promo!!! Nigeria offers huge reward for information on Boko Haram leaders

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Nigeria’s military on Friday offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in rewards for information leading to the capture of leaders of Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram. A statement listed 19 alleged senior members of the extremist group blamed for hundreds of deaths in connection with its insurgency in northern and central Nigeria. The rewards ranged from N50 million ($317,000, 245,000 euros) for the suspected leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, to N10 million for various Boko Haram “commanders”.

Video: All General Overseers and religious leaders should go to prison' - Pastor Tunde Bakare

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Video: All General Overseers and religious leaders should go to prison' - Pastor Tunde Bakare

Ondo PDP castigates Jonathan, national leadership

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Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday castigated leaders of the party at the national level for congratulating Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who won the October 20 election in the state.
Immediately after Mimiko was declared winner of the poll, President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP national leadership issued separate congratulatory messages to him.